It depends on how you look at as to whether full-auto weapons are can be legally possessed by a civilian citizen.
One way to look at it is that they are illegal except for:
1. Approximately 250,000 full-auto firearms that were legally registered with the NFA prior to October 1986, making them fully transferable to other private owners, depending on specific restrictions that may apply in your local jurisdiction.
2. Full-auto firearms possessed as dealer-samples by an FFL with a Class III or Class II license. These can include “non-transferable” full-auto weapons that can be sold only to the police, military or other Class III or Class II licensees. (The Class II license is particularly interesting as it allows manufacturing and possession of virtually any full-auto weapon, including re-conversion or replicas of historic full-auto weapons. The Class II license isn’t that difficult or expensive to obtain or maintain, and for many, it can be a cheaper way to own full-auto weapons than purchasing transferable weapons at market prices. I actually know someone who does this.)
Thing is, most people aren’t going to look into the details and this story will give them the false impression that Machine guns are easily had and freely available.
Go to a local gun show and stand near a table selling AR’s and most likely you’ll hear some uniformed person just off the street refer to them as ‘machine guns’.
The Left lives on Ignorance.